Corn topped the list of Turkish imports of Ukrainian grains, accounting for 74% and increasing ninefold year-on-year to 233,000 tonnes. Barley was the third-most imported grain, albeit accounting for just 1% and declining 22-fold to 3,800 tonnes.
Turkiye's grain imports from Ukraine halved this May compared with last year, to 316,600 tonnes.
Turkiye halted wheat imports from June 21 until October 15 to protect local producers from price decreases. Turkiye's wheat imports in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to 2.1 million tonnes worth $530 million. Other major sellers of wheat to Turkiye are Ukraine at 27% and Moldova at 1.6%. Bulgaria, Romania and Syria each account for about 1%.
Ukraine was granted a temporary duty-free trade arrangement with the European Union in June 2022. In March 2022, the EU additionally launched green corridors to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian grain to the world market amid Russia's special military operation. However, the cheap grain from Ukraine ended up flooding EU markets instead, prompting outrage among local farmers.